Air inflated beams (referred to herein as airbeams) are used to create a variety of inflatable recreational structures including tents and other shelters. The materials currently used to make inflatable airbeams are not dimensionally stable in an isotropic manner. Pattern direction and orientation on the fabric used to make the air beams has had a significant impact on the resulting material characteristics. For example, fabrics that stretch on the bias direction need to have a consistent patterning direction and orientation. Although it becomes difficult to closely pack the pattern pieces due to a large amount of waste material, the failure to properly orient a pattern on a sheet or length of material results in airbeams lacking in structural integrity and proper tortional strength when in use.
Prior art designs for inflatable air beams involve a two-layer construction namely, an outer non-resilient, non-air holding sleeve and an inner resilient, air holding bladder such as a polyurethane-inner tube. The air beams that use a double wall construction utilize more material, therefore, the airbeam is heavier than a single-walled airbeam. An additional hindrance with the double wall construction is that the manufacturing processes are more elaborate, including the need to sew sections of fabric and the need to ensure that the direction of the weave of the fabric is aligned precisely with the directions of the cuts made in preparing the fabric sections otherwise the airbeam will twist and distort, thereby adding more costs to the overall structure in addition to significantly added weight.
Accordingly, there is a need for a single wall airbeam and a material capable of being used to make such a single wall airbeam that will allow the low cost manufacture of a single wall airbeam that can be easily manufactured into a lightweight, distortion free airbeam.